A complete map of all the connections in an entire mammalian brain may be in sight. Allen Institute researchers have just launched three new projects to construct large, detailed maps of neuronal connections of the mouse and macaque brains, with an eye toward creating full wiring diagrams of these animals’ brains in the future. These projects are funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative.
Allen Institute research teams will use the funding to:
map the fine structures and connections in a 10mm3 piece of the mouse brain using electron microscopy;
apply new, cutting-edge techniques known as BARseq and BRICseq to map the long-range connections of hundreds of thousands of neurons in the macaque brain; and
scale up techniques that characterize neurons by their inter-areal projections, 3D shape, electrical properties, and gene expression to better understand different types of cells across the whole mouse brain.
